dolls house source information rich tudor people and poor tudor people

Tudor Rich & Tudor Poor

During the Tudor period the rich lived very comfortably in houses made of wattle and daub. During the reign of Elizabeth, the trend moved towards more stable and long standing stone buildings, Inside these huge mansions would be many rooms, with paved stone floors and tapestries hanging on the walls. There would be a large central fireplace in each room with an open fire. Brick chimneys would channel the air outside.

Merchants and town councillors were amongst the most wealthy in the Tudor community and they who owned the largest and most expansive houses. They would publicise their wealth and social standing by decorating their house exteriors with tiled patterns on the roof and glass panes in the windows. Technological improvements in glass production meant that windows could be larger, letting more natural light into the rooms. Small panes of glass were fixed together with lead strips and fitted into the casements. The high status of Merchants standing in society meant they could enjoy dry, heated rooms and comfortable furniture. They would throw parties with music and dancing. Guests would dress in their finest clothes and eat all kinds of meat and fish, including:-

venison

beef

game

fish

These were the most expensive foodstuffs available. They would have been served from silver platters and with matching knives and forks. The wine would have been served in silver goblets or decorated glass.

Panelling for walls was a fashion of tudor times in fine homes. Chests were pushed up against panelled walls which perhaps gave rise to the idea of freestanding panelled settles, forerunners of settees and sofas.

Life was very different for the poor who lived in Tudor times. Those who had some basic form of income lived in wooden framed houses. The gaps between the wooden frames would have been filled with straw and mud and the roof thatched with straw. Hole in the frames would have been left open to let some natural light in but there were no glass panes. An entire family might have lived along side each other in two or three rooms. The main room would have had a central fire to be used for both cooking and heating

The less well off, but who did have some form of income coming in, lived in the more basic type of houses. These were built with wooden frames, but their walls were panels made of straw and mud, with a thatched roof.

Their diets would be based around soups, vegetables and cereals. They probably did not own plates but ate out of wooden bowls.